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Reisverslag First week in Brisbane

First week in Brisbane

So, I’ve been wanting to start a blog for a week now. I figured it would be good for me to read back in the future and it makes it easier for me to keep friends and family updated. I’ve been pretty busy and/or exhausted, so I know that I haven’t been very good in sharing my new experience. I’ll start by sharing my first (half) week in Brisbane and I will post week 2 in the next few days.

Week 1:
I arrived on the 15th of February, completely exhausted and with nowhere to stay. I had booked an AirBnB, but on Dubai airport I was informed that my reservation was cancelled. The flight to Dubai was alright; the seat next to me was empty and I slept the majority of the way. From Dubai to Brisbane I planned to stay awake the first part of the flight and sleep the second part, as I was arriving in the morning. It didn’t go as planned.. I slept most of the flight. I think the preparations and the moving had exhausted me so much, that my body decided to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Customs on Brisbane airport took a while and I was disappointed to find out I don’t even get a stamp in my passport! :O With puffy feet and legs, and a tired body and mind, I booked a hostel at an airport counter and a shuttle to bring me there. I arrived and had to wait half an hour for the room to be ready, but I was in the room before noon. The hostel was located in West-end, which is hipster central. So after the best and most well-deserved shower, I walked into the West-end centre to get some groceries. In the afternoon I took a nap (and obviously I overslept), and then went for dinner with my supervisor, his wife, and baby girl.

Thursday morning I travelled to the Toowong suburb to look at a room for rent. Traveling with the bus is quite scary if you don’t know the area, as it doesn’t say anywhere which stop is next. So thanks to some help from a stranger, gps, and google maps I managed to get off at the right busstops. After looking at the room I took the ferry back to the centre and spent some time on South Bank, which has a miniature rainforest with an Asian temple. In the afternoon I went back to the hostel and did some research regarding Sim cards.

On Friday I arranged a Sim card and was finally connected to the world and less nervous about traveling with public transport (cuz if you miss your stop, try and find your way…). At 13h I went to look at another room in Taringa (I arrived all sweaty and melted.. damn the heat!). After that I went to the University of Queensland (UQ) Campus where I met my supervisor. He showed me around the Campus, the office, lab, and introduced me to some people. At 5pm the Biology department has drinks on a roof of the great court, so that’s where we ended up. By the end of the day, I needed to make a decision regarding my living arrangements, as the hostel was quite expensive; I ended up deciding for the place I visited on Thursday.

On Saturday morning I visited the West End food market, which was amazing. Food everywhere! And not just vegetables, fish, cheese, and meat to take home, but also readymade food and drinks. Had I known, I wouldn’t have had breakfast, so I’ve decided to go back another day. They even had food I known from the Czech Republic (Trdlo and Langost) AND poffertjes!!! I did not understand what part of the world I was in. XD After the market I ordered my first ever Uber and moved into my room in Toowong. I spent the day unpacking and chatting with one of my housemates. I live with an American couple that are both doing their PhD here and are biologists as well. The first time we met, we spend quite a lot of time talking about biological stuff and me and the woman (Jessie) really hit it off. Her husband (Kio) needed some more time to open up and feel comfortable with me, but now I really feel at home here. We have dinner together occasionally and have done a lot of movie nights with popcorn made by Jessie that is to die for. I still sometimes can’t comprehend how nice they are and how much I feel at home and comfortable here.

Upon arrival in Australia, I hadn’t finished my literature review yet that was due earlier. I received the comments on my first version very late, and by then I was super busy with the preparations for Australia. I had accepted the fact that I would have to finish the review in the evenings and weekend. But my supervisor urged me to take some extra days to finish it and to definitely keep the weekend free and go explore Brisbane. I was so happy and thankful for that! So on Sunday I went on another adventure. I visited the Queensland Museum and Sciencecentre, which had a lot of Australian animals and dinosaur skeletons and was FREE. Apparently all museums are free here, except for some exhibitions where you pay an entrance fee to support the museum. Then I went to Southbank again for some much needed lunch and another good look at Southbank, because I apparently missed the ‘beach’ the last time. Yes, in the middle of Brisbane, across the river of the city centre, there is a hybrid beach/pool thing going on. It was the weirdest thing! Towards the end of the day it started raining really bad, so I started making my way back home with the ferry. And of course I got of a stop too early, even though in the ferry they do announce which stop is next… I made it home after being refreshed by the rain and being completely oblivious to the fact that after the rain the heat is unbearable due to the humidity. But I survived ;)